Sovereignty or Free Will? Open Theism and Calvinism are Strange Bed Fellows

Picking up where we left off last time in our discussion covering the debate with Dr. James White via Twitter...

Which view of Sovereignty is really greater?  The Calvinistic view or the non-Calvinistic view?

Which is more impressive to you? The man you has to play both sides of the chess board to ensure victory or the man who can soundly defeat every opponent?

AW Tozer said, "God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so." - A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God

God's sovereignty is best reflected in the fact that He accomplishes His purpose through free creature and doesn't have to control them to ensure his victory.  A God less than sovereign would be scared to allow for autonomously free creatures.

We also take a look at the many texts which support the concept of autonomy and I relate that to the concept of "human responsiblity." 

Please feel free to leave comments or questions that can be addressed in future podcasts.  Visit us online at www.soteriology101.com